Toddler in hospital after eating ecstasy pill

A three-year-old boy was being treated in hospital yesterday after taking what is thought to be ecstasy.

Brendan White allegedly mistook a tablet of the drug at his home in Islington, north London, for a sweet. He was found slumped at the terrace house on Tuesday afternoon and taken to Whittington hospital, where he was in "critical" condition in intensive care. He was transferred to the poisons unit of Guy's hospital, where his condition was improving last night.

The boy's father, Derrick White, was arrested in connection with the incident and released on police bail.

A care worker next door to the house in Elizabeth Avenue said she heard Brendan's mother scream as she found her boy. Joyce Darfoor, 32, said: "I just heard a scream and that was it. First an ambulance came and then later the police arrived."

The accident came less than two weeks after the death of Jade Slack, 10, from Galgate, near Lancaster, who ate up to five ecstasy tablets.